


Would Roses Bloom

by icantloseyoutoo



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Almost Kiss, Bellarke Bingo, F/M, Kissing in the Rain, argument, kiss in the rain, together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 00:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19779811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icantloseyoutoo/pseuds/icantloseyoutoo
Summary: Clarke was totally fine with being ‘just friends’ with Bellamy, honestly. Even on the nights they kissed they were just friends. Even on the nights they fell into each other’s beds they were just friends. So when Bellamy starts dating Echo it shouldn’t sting at all. It shouldn’t.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our love is six feet under  
> I can’t help but wonder  
> If our grave was watered by the rain  
> Would roses bloom?  
> Could roses bloom  
> Again

The first time it happened was a haze of shots, beers and flashes of lights, and somewhere along the way their lips collided. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care that their shocked friends were all standing around with their jaws on the floor, and before too much longer they were pulled away by their respective roommates into cabs.

The second time it happened Clarke was cold. Bellamy had chuckled and reminded her she wasn’t in sunny Polis any more before giving her his jacket and continuing on their way down the side streets to the bar. She remembered how it warmed her from the inside out, and the smell of him lingered on her skin long after Bellamy had pawed the jacket off her back in her bedroom hours later.

That was when their friends’ raised eyebrows turned into lighthearted teasing. Much like their first kiss, the ribbing started innocently enough. It began with a wordless text Clarke received from Raven the morning after: a screenshot of her Find My Friends app that showed Clarke and Bellamy together, followed by a string of suggestive emojis that Clarke had to suppress a snort after reading. Soon enough it became an open secret in their circle of friends that Clarke and Bellamy were “a thing”, and it wasn’t long before it filtered into their group chats. Even though Bellamy didn’t speak to Murphy for a whole day after one of the jokes got under his skin, Clarke secretly loved the teasing. A friend with benefits suited her lifestyle, and honestly the jokes made her laugh out loud. It was good fun, no one was getting hurt, and _god damn_ he was a good kisser.

The third time it happened the waiting had been killing her. Clarke had always been competitive, so when the group decided to split into two teams for a competitive drinking game, she was determined to win. The competition involved running around town trying to find the drink with the funniest name or the weirdest combination of ingredients, and Clarke’s team was separated from Bellamy’s for the whole night until finally, luck brought them to the same hole in the wall.

 _Good to see you brought a coat this time,_ he had joked, zipping up her jacket for her as they stepped outside.

 _Not as warm as yours,_ she had replied with a cheeky smile. Suddenly the competition didn’t matter to her much at all, and she ignored the group chat blowing up both their phones the whole taxi ride back to his.

As the months rolled on it became a regular occurrence at their group outings. Monty had joked “ _is it really a night out if Bellamy and Clarke don’t hook up?”_ But as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Life got busy, and work got harder. Just as the deadlines were cleared, another night out was on the cards, and Clarke had already prepared for another night of their usual routine – until Murphy slipped up and asked Bellamy about his new girlfriend. Clarke tried not to choke on her drink as Bellamy answered, and she recovered a smile quickly, wishing him congratulations and trying not to ask too many questions. She was fine, after all. No need for that lurch in her chest or the twist in her gut. They were friends, that’s all. Just friends.


	2. Chapter 2

Raven’s laugh filled the air from the next room, and she padded over to where Clarke was watching reruns of Friends. “Miller just texted, he’s out with the boys. He wants to know if we’ll join them, are you up for it?”

Her expectant look and coy smile meant that even if Clarke said no, Raven’s way with words would convince her to come anyway. Clarke took a second to think about it. It was the last Friday of the semester, and they’d just had an exhausting day of classes. It could be good to let off some steam. “Yeah, just give me a sec to get changed.”

As Raven clapped her hands in glee, Clarke started upstairs to get ready. In the back of her mind, she knew Bellamy was likely there, and absent-mindedly wondered if Echo would be too. By now she was over him, of course. Sure, she felt a little betrayed at first, but they never technically committed anything to each other; they were friends before any of this mess happened so they were going to stay friends afterwards. Admittedly it might have been easier to stomach in the beginning if she hated Echo, but in the few interactions they had together, they actually hit it off really well. She understood what Bellamy saw in her – she was tall and willowy, with long brown hair cascading in waves down past her her shoulders; in many ways she was Clarke’s opposite. From what she gathered from their conversations so far, Echo had no idea that Clarke and Bellamy were ever more than friends. That made her feel a little guilty, but if Bellamy thought it was important for her to know he would tell her, and who was she to interfere with that?

Slipping in to a bodysuit and skinny jeans, Clarke let her blonde waves fall naturally to her shoulders. Just as she was finishing her makeup, Raven stuck her head through Clarke’s bedroom door. “Are you ready? The Uber’s almost here.”

“Yeah, one second.” Clarke shrugged on her jacket and grabbed her purse, meeting Raven in the doorway.

“Here, we need to catch up to the guys.” She handed her a shot glass filled with clear liquid. “Vodka.” Raven clarified, before downing a shot of her own. 

Maybe a bit of liquid courage was just what Clarke needed. With a shrug, she took the shot, shuddering as the taste of burning flames licked her throat. “Let’s go.”

The Dropship was packed, and the girls thanked their lucky stars that the guys had managed to snag a booth big enough for all of them before it got too busy. “Raven, Clarke! You made it!” Miller stood up to greet them with a sloppy hug, and shooed the boys further in to the booth to make room.

“Who else is here?” Clarke asked, her eyes scanning the table. Miller, Murphy, Jasper and Monty were seated, but there was no sign of Bellamy.

“Bellamy’s ordering a round at the bar, he’ll be back in a minute. Finn was out too, he decided to join us. He’s in the bathroom” Murphy answered. “If you want something to drink you’ll still have time to put it on Bellamy’s tab.”

Clarke shared a meaningful look with Raven at the mention of Finn’s name; they’d always thought he was a little odd with girls, and the boys were beginning to sense it too. She assumed he had invited himself to the table. As for Bellamy, she didn’t fancy having to have a one-to-one with him just yet. “I’m okay for now, thanks.” She offered him a small smile. “Raven had me doing shots before we left the house.”

“Oh man, you have no idea. We played drunk jenga before we came out and I swear we drank two bottles of tequila between us.” Jasper lamented, and motioned to Miller. “I think you can tell who lost.”

Miller was so spaced out he didn’t notice the dig. “Yeah, maybe he should sit this round out.” Monty commented, concern in his voice. As soon as the words left his lips, Bellamy arrived with his hands full of drinks.

“Okay, I don’t remember what any of these are so take your pick – oh, hey girls, when did you get here?” He covered his surprise well. 

“Just a minute ago. How are you?” Clarke answered as he sat down.

“Good, glad the semester is over and we can finally relax a little.” He sipped his drink, and Clarke nodded in reply.

“Clarke! Hey, good to see you.” Finn sauntered into view and sat down opposite her, next to Jasper.

“Yeah, good to see you too.” She said with the enthusiasm of a teenager being made to file taxes. “Murphy, how are things going with that girl?”

His head perked up from his phone. “Hm? Oh, Emori? She’s just a friend.”

This set off a bout of chatter from the boys, disagreeing and teasing him.

“You’ve never been a good liar, Murphy.” Monty said.

“Are you blushing? I think he’s blushing!” Raven chimed in.

Finn scoffed, sounding bitter. “ _Just friends._ Yeah, like Bellamy and Clarke are ‘just friends’.”.

Silence fell over the group. Ambient noise and the music playing from the speakers wasn’t enough to smother the tension laid thick in the air. 

“What?” Clarke’s ears must have been playing tricks on her.

“She heard you.” Bellamy addressed Finn from across the table, his eyes staying fixed on Clarke. “She’s just being polite.”

Finn grumbled into his drink, the air still thick over the booth. An uncomfortable length of time passed, dotted with nervous laughter from Raven and Monty. Eventually Jasper broke the silence. “Oooh, tension! Anyway, I saw the funniest thing the other day, get this: a guy dressed like Abraham Lincoln was hanging around my neighbourhood at like 3am. And I…”

Clarke zoned out as Jasper recounted his story, while the others were thankful for something else to focus on. She was usually okay with those kind of jokes being made at her expense, but they had never been made to her face while Bellamy was sitting right there. Besides, he had a girlfriend now, and it just felt weird, not to mention Finn wasn’t really a part of her friend group. Feeling eyes on her, she risked a glance at Bellamy. He was studying her, eyebrows furrowed, and when she caught him looking he averted his gaze.

A rush of heat washed over her, and a round of laughter erupted as Jasper finished his story. The crowd was intense; too many bodies in the bar and too many people packed into the booth were causing her to flush red. Fanning herself with her hand, she exhaled, “ _God,_ I’m so hot,”

Finn’s eyes landed on her, flitting to her chest as he mumbled something under his breath before Jasper whacked his head with a menu. “No!” He scolded. “Stop that, you’re not allowed.”

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Clarke crossed her arms, cursing the low-cut bodysuit. It wasn’t enough to put her at ease. Needing an excuse to step away, so she stood and announced to the group she was getting a drink. Something to cool her down would be good, and she needed a breather from Finn. “Two Long Island Iced Teas, please,” she asked the bartender, handing over her card. For as busy as The Dropship was, service was fast – the staff were used to dealing with crowds, and had this down to a fine art by now. She drank the first cocktail at the bar to kill time.

As the felt the soft buzz of alcohol in her veins, she returned to find Monty and Jasper helping Finn to his feet. She shot them a quizzical look, and Monty explained. “He’s had a little too much to drink.”

“Fortunately for you, it’s time for him to head home.” Jasper added.

Clarke hummed in agreement, and sat down next to a dazed Miller. Once the trio were out of earshot, Miller spoke. “Anyone else hate that guy?”

“I’ll drink to that.” Murphy replied, holding his glass up to cheers. The rest of the group joined in, and Clarke laughed.

The night flowed much easier after that, a few targeted rounds of Never Have I Ever aside, and eventually most of the group dropped off like flies. Monty and Jasper were the first to go, followed closely by Raven, who had a booty call from Shaw she leapt at. Murphy hauled Miller into a cab before he got the group kicked out for drunken behaviour, and then just the three of them remained. With a glance at the time on her phone, Clarke mentioned she should probably head home soon too. Bellamy made a face. “A taxi to your side of town on your own is gonna cost a fortune. You can come stay with us tonight if you want.”

“We’ve got a spare room, and the makings of a _killer_ hangover breakfast for tomorrow morning.” Murphy added.

Clarke considered their offer. Bellamy was right; at this hour of the night the prices would be jacked up, and she had crashed at theirs plenty of times before without any problems. “That would be great, thanks guys.”

The night ended with the three of them sprawled on the couch at Bellamy and Murphy’s place, throwing popcorn at the screen and laughing at the cheesiest movie on Netflix they could find. About half an hour after Bellamy called it a night, Clarke headed up to the spare room while Murphy shuffled around the kitchen to satisfy his grilled cheese craving.

She dumped her purse on the floor and draped her jacket on the back of the desk chair. Catching her reflection in the mirror, she bent over and began cleaning up the streaks of mascara that had smudged under her eyes. Focused so intensely, she didn’t notice Bellamy approaching until he knocked on the open door. Clarke jumped, gasping. “You scared me,” she laughed breathily. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just checking on you.” He replied. “You got everything you need? Another blanket? I know how cold you get at night.”

Clarke nodded, ignoring the reminder of the nights they spent together. “I should be fine, thanks though. And thanks again for letting me stay over." 

“Any time.” Bellamy closed the distance between them, pulling her into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Clarke.”

Clarke returned the embrace. “It’s good to see you too.” She breathed him in, and memories she had locked away came flooding back. Lost in his warmth, they stayed wrapped around each other longer than necessary, and as their arms came apart neither pulled away. Clarke’s hands settled with her fingers lightly playing on his waist, and Bellamy’s left hand brushed the hair out of her face as his right rested on her lower back. The two were centimetres apart, lips not daring to touch but their breath mingling in the space between them, hanging dangerously in the air like a live wire threatening to spark.

Bellamy tilted his head down ever so slightly, his bottom lip just barely brushing against Clarke’s, setting every nerve ending on fire. Synapses fired through her body, and she felt electricity coursing through her. Every good memory of the two of them flashed before her eyes in a split second, from how good it felt to finally kiss him for the first time, to laughing at pillow talk in the early morning, to how proud he looked when she learned how to light a fire from scratch on a camping trip, to right now. The more primal part of Clarke’s brain was screaming at her to surrender, but the logical side took over. _Echo._ Clarke stepped back, clearing her throat. “I should go to sleep. Goodnight, Bellamy.”

He retreated too, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. Yeah, of course. Goodnight, Clarke, see you in the morning.”

The door closed behind him, leaving Clarke alone. She stood and played with the silence, her thoughts racing a million miles a minute. _What just happened?_


	3. Chapter 3

Bellamy hadn’t come downstairs the next morning, and Clarke knew why. After thanking Murphy for breakfast, she had made a speedy exit back home, where she spent the weekend stewing with her thoughts. She felt her emotions run the gamut from shock to confusion and finally settling in anger. They had just gotten back into the rhythm of being friends, and then he threw a spanner in the works. If Clarke hadn’t pulled away when she did, she was sure he would have kissed her. _What was he thinking?_

Every time her phone buzzed with a text her heart rate shot up, thinking it might be Bellamy ready to apologise, explain, or just do _something_ to break the silence, but no such luck. She wondered if he had been doing the same thing as her; typing out a hundred variations of a message, hovering over the send button, and then freaking out and deleting everything. Was it cowardly? Maybe. But this whole situation was uncharted territory, and it was so much easier to say nothing and pretend it never happened.

When her phone buzzed on Monday afternoon, it was a text from Jasper.

_Jasper: Mario Kart & pizza night at mine, be there or be square_

Good, a distraction. Memories of Friday were consuming Clarke from the inside out, chipping away at her conscience, and making her question if she was really as good a person as she claimed to be. Her relationship with Bellamy had always been fluid, and their interactions depended on whether it was day or night, if anyone else was around, whether or not they had been drinking, and how strong their desire was for each other in that moment. Raven had warned her not to get attached; that he wasn’t a relationship guy. She had joked _“The boy isn’t just ice, he’s the whole damn iceberg”_. Maybe Echo was everything he needed to commit to a relationship. The fact that Clarke _wasn’t_ bit at her.

Monty and Jasper’s game night was exactly what she needed. Raven and Clarke arrived to find the whole group there already – Miller and Jasper in a heated race against each other on the screen. Monty greeted them at the door, while Clarke’s eyes landed on an unfamiliar girl resting her head on Murphy’s shoulder. Hearing them walk in, he introduced her. “Clarke, Raven, this is Emori. My girlfriend.” He ducked his chin, hiding a small smile and a tint of pink on his cheeks. Emori stood to say hello, and Clarke took her in. Olive skin, straight black hair, soft features and eyebrows Clarke would kill for. 

“Just friends, huh?” Raven teased Murphy, before hugging Emori. “Nice to meet you.”

When Raven released her, Clarke pulled her in for a hug too. “Murphy speaks highly of you, it’s good to put a face to a name.”

“It’s good to meet you guys too, John talks about you all the time – I feel like I know you already,” Emori joked, motioning for the girls to join her. “Come sit with me, this couch needs more girls.” 

Clarke scanned the rest of the room, eyes resting on the person that had been playing on her mind the whole weekend. _Bellamy._ He looked as if he was about to say something, but before he got the chance, Miller’s laugh and Jasper’s cries of protest filled the air. “Looks like we have a winner, fair and square.” Monty announced. “Jasper, you know the rules – winner stays in, loser swaps out.” 

Jasper groaned in annoyance, throwing his head back. Passing the controller to Bellamy, he gripped his hand tightly. “Bellamy Blake, this may be the most important thing you do the whole day – _no,_ the whole _week_ – you cannot lose this game.” He spoke with such intensity, holding eye contact the entire time, that Bellamy started to look a little freaked out. “I’m trusting you with this. Miller is _far_ too smug a winner and he needs to be taken down a peg.” 

“Hey, I’m right here, dude!” Miller interrupted, still laughing.

Without taking his eyes off Bellamy, Jasper continued. “I know, Miller. And we all know I’m right.” Releasing his grip on Bellamy, they swapped seats and the game began.

All eyes were glued to the screen as Bellamy picked Rainbow Road. “Bold choice, Blake. Let’s hope you’ve got the stones to back it up.” Miller taunted.

A smirk settled into his features, but Bellamy remained silent as the game began. Miller’s Donkey Kong was heavy and slow off the mark compared to Bellamy’s Yoshi, he was steadily moving up the rankings to 3rdwhile Miller was stuck at 7thby the end of the first lap. But tragedy struck at a corner – the kart in 4thsent a red shell for Bellamy, causing his car to flip and Yoshi to sit in a daze while Miller gained on him and knocked him off the course. A chorus of “ _Oooh_ ”s erupted from the group, and Bellamy put his game face on. As he was repositioned on the track, he was dead last. A stroke of luck: a mystery box gave him a bullet, providing a burst of speed dropping him off several places ahead. “Oh come on, that’s basically cheating.” Miller drawled.

Clarke chuckled despite herself, muttering, “Yeah, cheating would be pretty shitty, wouldn’t it?”

Bellamy’s kart stopped dead in the middle of the lap for a beat, before picking up speed again. Clarke’s eyes widened; maybe she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought.

No one else seemed to notice the subtext of her comment, still cheering on their friends and placing bets. Though Bellamy put up a good fight, he seemed too distracted and finished two places behind Miller. As he passed the controller to Emori, he locked eyes with Clarke, giving her no hint as to his thoughts, before taking a seat on the far end of the room. She avoided looking his way for the rest of the evening, but during a lull while Raven and Monty left to pick up the pizza, he reached for her arm.

“Can I talk to you?” His words were almost imperceptible.

She eyed his hand on her arm, and he dropped it. With a cursory glance to the rest of their friends still milling around the apartment, she sighed, but nodded. “Outside.”

Talking in the corridor wasn’t an option – cheap apartments had thin walls, and Clarke had a feeling things could get ugly – so the pair walked in silence to the lobby. She tried to ignore the pit that was growing in her stomach, as if she was being led to slaughter. Reaching a safe spot, she stopped, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him expectantly.

Bellamy rocked on his feet, scratching the back of his head. “Uh, about Friday, I just wanted to say…” he seemed to struggle for the words. “I guess first of all, I wanted to say sorry for-”

Clarke barked out a laugh, interrupting him. “You’re sorry? You’re _sorry?_ Sorry doesn’t make it better, Bellamy, that was a really shitty thing to do.” 

He froze. “Right. I know, I just wanted to-”

“I was over you, you know. Really.” She snapped. “You got a girlfriend, I put us aside, we were just friends again. Fine. But then you… you do something like that? That’s not fair, Bellamy, to me or to Echo.” She shook her head. 

A beat passed as Bellamy collected himself, on the defence now. “What are you talking about? And Clarke, we’ve always been friends, we _are_ friends.” 

“ _Bullshit_ , Bell, that’s bullshit and you know it. Friends don’t look at each other like that, friends don’t touch each other like that.” She raised her voice. “Do you know how confusing it was for me that you suddenly got together with this girl after we were sleeping together for months? I didn’t even know you were thinking about dating anyone, let alone getting into a relationship. What am I supposed to think about that?”

Bellamy closed his eyes, bringing a hand to his face before letting out a breath.

Clarke continued. “You let me deal with that all by myself, I worked through my shit, and then you try to kiss me? And don’t tell me it would have stopped at a kiss, I know you too well to be so naïve. I guess I was just an easy fuck to you.” The words cut like razor blades on her tongue as she spoke.

A passerby could be excused for thinking Clarke had slapped him in the face, if his expression was anything to go by. She waited as he steadied himself, expecting a response, but when there was none she just scoffed. “I can’t do this.” Much of her anger had fizzled down to disappointment, and she walked outside without turning back.

The rain felt freeing, as if she was being washed clean. _Shit_ , of course Raven’s car was gone. Too late to turn back now, Clarke was too stubborn for that. Maybe a walk home would do her good, give her time to cool off – provided she didn’t get hypothermia in this weather. Cold nipped at her face as the wind whistled around her, masking Bellamy’s shout from behind.

“Clarke!” He ran after her, catching up. “You want to know why I started dating Echo?”

She groaned. “Bellamy, I really don’t want to hear about how great your girlfriend is right now, I-”

“Just listen, okay?” He cut her off. The urgency in his voice threw her, and she held her tongue. “I started dating her because of you.”

Clarke looked up at him in surprise. The rain had dampened his curls so they were sticking to his face. “When we first started this, I thought it would just be like any other hookup. We get together, no strings, no commitment, no feelings. But then it was just so easy, being with you, that I started… I started wanting more than that. But I knew it wasn’t like that for you, so I freaked out. Then this girl at the coffee shop wrote her number on my cup, and I just went with it. I didn’t think you’d care. Echo was great, really. But she wasn’t you. There was something missing, I was unhappy, and I think she sensed that. That’s why she broke up with me last week. You didn’t know?”

Now it was Clarke’s turn to freeze. “What? You’re not with Echo any more?” She had to shout over the wind.

“No. That’s why the boys took me drinking in the first place.”

Wheels were spinning in her brain, it was hard to put the thoughts together as the droplets pounded harder on her head. “Why didn’t anyone say anything? And why were you apologising if you weren’t about to cheat on her with me?”

“I guess they didn’t want to upset me. And I was apologising because I thought I overstepped a boundary with a friend – just because I’m single now didn’t necessarily mean you wanted to kiss me.” He explained. God, she felt like an idiot. How did she not notice? Echo wasn’t at the bar, she wasn’t here tonight, and she actually hadn’t heard from her in a long time. No one had mentioned her name in days.

Clarke took a moment to process everything, what was left of her anger dissipating as the rain cooled her face. She felt her hair dripping water onto the clothes already stuck to her skin, and a laugh started from deep inside her chest. It grew, spreading to her cheeks and continuing until she was almost doubled over in fits.

Bellamy looked on in confusion. “Clarke? Are you okay?” He sounded concerned, as if he thought she’d lost her mind, which Clarke supposed wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.

“You’re an idiot, Bellamy Blake.” She lightly punched his chest.

“What, why? What did I do?” He asked.

“You didn’t think I wanted you too? Bellamy, you were my best friend. The person I wanted to share every bit of good news with, the first person I thought about when I woke up and the last thing I thought about when I went to sleep. I only backed off because I thought you were in love with Echo.”

Bellamy let out a bewildered laugh to match Clarke’s. “Then we must both be idiots, because I’ve been in love with you for a long time. Just took me too long to realise it.”

With budding smiles, like roses blooming despite the rain, they closed the distance between each other and Bellamy pulled her into a deep kiss. The familiar taste of his tongue mingled with the fresh coolness of the raindrops, and Clarke smiled through the kiss. Water cascaded down both their faces, but neither cared enough to pull away in to cover. It was a perfect combination of the emotional gravity and tentativeness of a first kiss, coupled with the passion and urgency of a kiss that could be their last.

Finally, as the telltale rumble of a car pulled up beside them, their lips parted. Still holding each other close, they turned their attention to the car’s occupants, who were stepping out.

“About damn time,” said Raven, holding her red bomber jacket over her head to shield her ponytail. Monty hid a knowing smile, carrying two large pizza boxes towards the shelter of the apartment building.

Raven continued, “You two lovebirds coming, or what?”

A light pink rose to Clarke’s cheeks at her words, and their friends disappeared inside the building. “I guess we should go in and get dry, right?”

“Together?” Bellamy asked, a contented smile over his face. 

Clarke interlaced her fingers with his. “Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First work of Bellarke Bingo is complete! This mini fic hits the 'almost kiss', 'argument', and 'kiss in the rain' tropes.


End file.
